Identity
by An Imaginative Demiurge
Summary: She grew up with no identity. When she got a little older, she made herself one. Now, she is slowly losing it. Losing herself...  A bloodline limit with terrible side effects, a double life, a horrible past, and far too many secrets to keep.   NejiTen.
1. History

Her identity has always been something that has been tempered with or altered, yet she has always managed to hold onto herself. Very soon, however, she finds herself slipping further and further away, and its not just because a few papers state that she is a different person, or a role to play. No it's real, and each time it's harder to come back from the recesses of her mind. She grew up with no identity. When she got a little older, she made herself one. Now, she is slowly losing herself...

A bloodline limit with terrible side effects. A double life of constant acting. An assasin of excellent skill. A horrible past. Far too many secrects to keep.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any form. All of it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, except for the plot and a few of my OCs. :)

Identity

_Tenten._

_This is the name I was given. I really don't know what my actual one is, but I guess in my line of work, its better that way._

_I don't particularly want to write in this, but I feel as if I might completely lose the small part that is still totally me inside if I don't._

_So to save myself, I will write._

Entry 1

It was a mask.

A lie.

The façade I put on everyday was something natural to me by now, a daily performance of the art I'd perfected a long time ago.

A show with no audience.

I hid everything, yet no one guessed and I kept it that way.

It used to hurt. It used to mentally cut at me. But I think I hid my real self a long time ago, because it stopped hurting.

You can't hurt something if you can't find it.

You can't feel pain if you think don't exist.

It wasn't only what I could do that I hid, it was also bits of who I was. I always hid my emotions unless they were happy or a very low level of angry. I knew I couldn't be emotionless because that wouldn't make me seem like a normal kid, but too much emotion could lead to questions I couldn't answer. I walked a very fine line.

Another thing I hid was my past, and my life. I never told anyone about my childhood or things that I did on the weekend, or even where I lived, the latter for obvious reasons.

It was mainly because I never opened up that I never had any friends, but again, I preferred it that way. Having friends meant I would have to tell them about myself, and who I was, among other things...

...things that were forbidden to say and things that I just didn't want to talk about.

It didn't bother me though. All my true friends lived with me, back in the house, and I knew I could relate to them much better than anybody else, because there was no reason to keep secrets from them, they all did and experienced the same things. Most importantly, they knew the real me.

Well, actually, now that I think about it, it's slightly different now. After one year with them, my team is slowly starting to become some of my really good friends. Lucky for me, Lee and Gai don't really care that much about where I come from, or my past. They mostly just want to know _me_, which I feel so bad about since I almost always answer their innocent questions with half-truths or vague expressions.

You know, sometimes I worry about it. I mean, what will happen if they start asking questions, I know for sure I can't answer? I know that I am particularly skilled at lying, but how long will my vagueness keep them satisfied before they want more, and how long until it leads to suspicion on my part? Believe me when I say this, no good ever comes out of suspicion.

As for Neji, well, he's…Neji? It's kind of hard to find an adjective to describe him, so I guess _he _is the best one. Anyway, I'm not sure if he doesn't care or if he is too reserved to ask, but thankfully, whatever the reason may be, he doesn't pry into my life, and in return, I don't ask about his. It's a mutual understanding that was formed about five minutes after I met him. I asked him how his day had been, he said _"Hn"_, in a noncommittal way. No more personal questions for Neji after that.

The only thing I am to him is a decent training partner, and to be quite honest, I quite like it like that. It makes things simple, and I treasure anything that is, because in my life, _'simple'_ is a rare luxuxry.

If I think of words to describe my team, it would be 'easy' and 'fun'. That's basically how things are with my team, which is why I like to spend lots of time with them. Easy and fun are two other things my alternate life is seriously lacking.

Entry 2

Sometimes, no wait, _all_ the time, I wish that my life was exactly like the lies I always told my team.

My team...

Funnily enough, the first memory that comes to mind about them isn't a pleasant one – well, for me at least – despite everything I wrote in my last entry. I guess it's because out of everything, this is the one that eats at me the most.

Actually, its more than one memory, but they are all practically the same thing, so I guess I could just condense them all. It is a memory, of me sitting on the sidelines, listening to my sensei talk about us, his students.

He'd always start with Lee.

"Ha, my Lee is the finest hard working shinobi you could find" He'd say.

This was almost always followed by a statement about how youthful Lee was, "He springs forth in the epitome of youth" or something along the lines of that.

Then he'd start looking around, and his eyes would always stop at Neji.

He _always_ came next.

"Neji was born a prodigy, and I tell you, he's only gotten better!"

Then he'd try to bring Neji closer to him, oblivious to Neji's attempts to move away, by placing a hand on or an arm around his shoulder. Gwaffing loudly, this part was also then accompanied by a proud statement of Neji's latest success or another phrase about his youthfulness.

It should have been my turn next, but most of the time, I never got my chance. This was probably the only part of this subconscious routine that ever changed.

Sometimes, when it really got to me, I'd stand up, plaster on a happy face and stare directly at Gai, or make a small noise. It was only then that he'd remember me, and he'd say a few pointless words that meant nothing to me.

If I could condense what he said into a generalisation, this is what it would sound like, "This is Tenten, the beautiful lotus flower of youth on our team"

Just like I said, pointless.

Not once do I remember him talking about my skills or how good I was, and the only comment he could make was one about how I was a girl.

Out of everything that I hide, the one I hate the most is playing down my strength. At first, my master was even opposed to me showing my excellent weaponry skills. I begged and pleaded, but no matter what, the answer remained the same: No.

Then finally, I won him over by saying that even ordinary kunoichi have a special skill or a bloodline limit of some sort, so why couldn't mine be excellent aim. He agreed after that, just as I made sure I never stood out _too_ much.

The last part was easy, having perfect aim isn't enough to throw you into the spotlight anyway. I was already pretty average in terms of looks, with my extremely common brown hair and eyes, a combination whichmany people seemed to have. I had no outstanding features that would stick in anyones mind, an immense advantage for me. In the end, all I did was put my hair up, dress conservatively, constantly stick to pants, and just like that, I became the unremarkable, extremely generic, clichéd tom-boy. I downplayed my basic skill and even my personality, and the end result was someone who was extremely forgettable.

Perfect.

No sarcasm intended, forgettable was exactly what I needed.

But sometimes…

…sometimes, I wish I could just show them all how good I truly was.

Entry 3

When I think back on my life, I realise that all that surrounds it is death.

My parents died.

Then my cold hearted grandmother adopted me. She showed me no love.

Imagine that. A three year old who didn't even understand the world yet, was denied love.

She never told me who my parents were.

She never even told me my name.

She simply called me granddaughter, although I have to say, I was treated like more of a servant. She made it her mission to suppress every small memory I had of my loving parents, and replace them with the vile ones of my time with her. It sucks to say this, but it actually wasn't that hard for her to do, considering that the few ones I did have were the ones I'd seen with the eyes and mind of a three year old.

In time, I forgot my parent's names, how they looked like, basically everything about them and my old life. There were no memories left, except for one small insignificant thing. It was peculiar little melody, so distinct in its sound that I think it would be virtually impossible to forget. To me this tune was my source of comfort in the days that my grandmother made too hard, the small thing that I clung to, reminding me that happiness does exist, and that even I was happy once, even if it was only for a short time.

I was never really sure about this, but I could have sworn that the voice humming the tune in my memory belonged to my mother. It made this even more precious to me, because if not anything, at least I still had her voice.

Eventually, my grandmother and I fell into a routine that everyday involved me doing some kind of chores or errands, and then my grandmother punishing me for not doing a good enough job, and making me do it all over again.

I didn't know it then, but I would be thankful for it later. The mask I built in an effort to hide my emotions from my grandmother every time she punished me, to show her she wasn't getting to me, soon became so good, it was difficult for me myself to know if I was actually feeling the emotion shown on my face. My face was like a screen, and I could control just how much you could see trough it. I hate to be cocky, but when it comes to emotions, I think I might be better than both Neji and Sasuke combined.

All they have to do it keep their face calm and emotionless all the time, but my job was harder. I had to cover up certain emotions with others, using only my facial expressions, which is a hell of a lot more difficult than keeping your face clear. What people like Neji and Sasuke – and Shino come to think of it - were doing was like keeping your mouth shut, whereas I was trying to lie…

…and my lies are always convincing.

The more I hid my emotion from my grandmother the angrier she got, which ultimately meant that I did it more and more. Anything to unhinge her or make her suffer was like gold to me.

I spent five long years with my grandmother, and then finally she died not showing a single morsel of regret in how she treated be for all this time. In fact, she seemed rather happy, as though she was satisfied with herself.

Disgusting.

In the end, I never got the satisfaction of watching her breath her last breath. The last thing she did before she died was send me to a man. Then a week later, I got a message saying that she had quietly passed away, on the 17th of July, three days prior.

There was no funeral.

No one would pay for it because, as it turns out, the bitter old woman was hated by several others as well. I didn't care either way, I was just glad she was gone. I didn't even go to see the body to pay my final respects.

From then on, a new phase of my life had begun. It was a much better one. Of course it wasn't perfect, but it was such a big improvement from my old one, and it was honestly the best I'd ever been treated. I was no longer a servant, I was free to go wherever I wanted, and it was all thanks to the man who took me in. He didn't do it out of kindness, because no war torn shinobi like him does that. He just took me in because he was fascinated with the bloodline limit I had.

Or more so the bloodline limit bloodline limit I _didn't_ know I had.

He had been waiting until I was ready to go to the academy to come and get me. He made it no secret that he had killed my grandmother, in fact he mentioned it a couple of times, and, if I'm not mistaken, even emphasised it. I don't really know why. Maybe he was testing my love or my loyalty to her. Whatever, I'm guessing I passed anyway. Besides, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really care who killed her anyway.

I hated the bitch.

Entry 4

The man who took me in never told me his real name. He simply said I was to call him Master. He never considered me his family or anything like that. His adoption of me only meant that I joined the few other people under his command.

Again I wasn't shown the love I had been denied, but it didn't bother me, because instead he had given me something else.

An identity.

Something so small made me indebted to Master for so long. He had made me a person by doing something really not that miraculous.

He gave me a name.

I still remember the conversation:

"_I can't call you granddaughter you know. It just doesn't feel right, considering I am in no way realted to you at all," _he had said_._

"_That was all my grandmother ever called me, I don't have any other name." _I whispered back, a small eight year old, still weary of this big weird man who had taken me away.

"_Well then, we'll have to give you one won't we?" _he said,_ "What name do you like?"_

"_I don't know any names."_

"_Its okay, I have to go to a meeting now anyway, so I'll leave you to decide. I'll be back in an hour, and I expect a name by then."_

He left then, moving faster than anyone I had ever seen before.

I left soon after, and went to the park just outside the big house we all lived in. I really didn't know anything about names, or what they should sound like, so I had decided to ask around for people's names, and then if I liked it I would take it for myself.

It had been really busy on that day, and I had asked so many people for their names. Some people simply didn't answer and walked away, and the names I did get from those who answered just didn't seem right.

An hour passed up, and I remember being so afraid that the man would be angry because I couldn't do what he asked. I sat down on the steps in front of the huge housing complex that was now my new home, bracing myself for the beating I was expecting for not completing my duties properly.

"_So what will it be?"_

My head snapped up in surprise. I hadn't heard him coming.

"_I…I…couldn't think of one I liked…"_ I said, closing my eyes, waiting for the pain…

…then opening them after sometime to find my Master in deep thought.

I was so confused. All my life I had been punished whenever I did something wrong, but here I had failed, and the man wasn't even shouting at me. Suddenly, he snapped out of the trance he had been in, and looked at me, almost examining me. I was suddenly very aware of how little I knew of this man, and I was very afraid. What if my grandmother had sent me away to some sort of lunatic, as a way to continue her evilness even after she was dead. I was terrified of the idea, and I could feel that horrible feeling of my stomach sinking at the realisation that my nightmare wasn't over.

Seemingly oblivious to my internal turmoil, my Master finally stopped looking at me and started talking.

"_Okay, I have decided."_

"_Decided on what?"_ I asked politely, my voice not giving away how scared I really was. All I could think of was that he had finally decided what he would do to me, and all the horrible scenarios played out in my head, like some sort of twisted horror movie.

Then he smiled and said, _"On your name of course!"_

All at once my fears melted away. It seemed completely irrational now, jumping to conclusions like that all because of one tiny look he gave me.

Relieved and slightly excited as to what he would say, I asked him what he had in mind.

"_Well, you see my sister died during the third shinobi war when she was just ten. I was absolutely heartbroken, because after my parents died, she was the one thing left of my family, and she meant everything to me. Before she died, she used to have a teddy bear called Tenten that she loved dearly, almost as if it were her baby, and she took it everywhere with her. I even had it buried with her because I simply could not bear the though of her without it, it was like an incomplete picture. Anyway, the way you wear those buns on your head reminded me so much of it that I decided you might as well be named after it. Tenten."_ He said, his smile back on his face again. He was so much taller than I was back then, and when he looked at me, he had to crane his neck pretty far down. His face looked expectant.

I honestly didn't know what to say. I searched for words of gratitude worthy enough to describe how I felt at being named as I stared at the floor.

"_Well? ...Do you like it?"_ He asked.

I nodded my approval, and so from that day onward, I became Tenten. Of course it took sometime to get used to people calling me that, but I came to really love my name. I know it sounds stupid, it's just a name after all, but I had been identity-less for so long, that I sometimes felt like I didn't really exist. Having a name, however, gave me the feeling of being a real and unique person.

I know there were many reasons as to why I chose that name. For starters, I certainly liked it better than any of the other names I had heard that day, and it had a really nice meaning too.

Tenten. It meant 'Heavenly Heaven'.

It was really appealing to be named after something so good and pure, especially after my grandmother kept telling me about how I was a bad and evil child. Even in death it was satisfying to contradict her, and as I said before, I'd savour any chance I got to prove her wrong.

Also, I was sure that that was were my parents were, in heaven. I just knew that my grandmother was most likely rotting away in hell, where she deserved to be, and heaven was just about as far as you could get from hell. In my mind, being called Tenten made me feel closer to my loving parents, and further away from my grandmother.

Oh yes, I _love_ my name...

(Real Life)

At the faint sound of approaching feet, Tenten quickly closed the small, leather bound book and hurriedly shoved it into one of the many deep pockets that were barely visible on her pants. She knew she should have been worried about the weapons that she also kept in her pockets damaging her book, however the leather was pretty tough and she'd rather have a slightly scratched book than risk her many secrets being found out anyway.

Clearing her face of the slightly frenzied state it had just been in when she heard the sound in an instant, Tenten hopped down from the high branch of the big, old tree she'd been sitting on, and repositioned herself on the grass just below it, leaning her back against the thick trunk of the tree. Casually, she whipped out one of her kunai, beginning to sharpen it lazily against a nearby rock, pretending to look as if she had been doing it for quite sometime now.

Judging from the sound and vibration from each step she noted that whoever was approaching was a trained ninja and she could also tell that there was more that one person approaching. Listening intently, she noted that one of them had an extremely light, almost rhythmical step.

It was Neji, she realised a moment later. After spending almost a year with him on the same team, she was pretty familiar with the way his footsteps sounded like. Of course, if it was Neji, then the other person would most definitely have to be Lee. Neji didn't go anywhere with anyone except for Lee or her, so it wasn't really hard to figure out who he was with. They seemed to be headed directly to her, which wasn't surprising really, considering that this was usually the time that the team got together for their usual training session. As they got closer, Tenten pretended to be even more absorbed in sharpening her Kunai. Her act had to be flawless, and being able to detect people approaching from a distance simply by their footsteps was definitely something _'Tenten'_ wasn't good enough to do. She sighed silently, frustrated at her many restrictions.

Neji saw Tenten sitting there, sharpening her Kunai. He could tell she was bored, even though she wasn't facing him, because he knew for a fact that Tenten only sharpened her tools once a fortnight, or if she was bored and there was nothing else to do. He could see her hand, bringing whatever she was sharpening closer to her face to examine its edge every so often and then either putting it away or continuing to sharpen it, all with very lazy mechanical movements. She hadn't noticed them, he realised, her body language giving him all the answers he needed. Frowning slightly to himself, he watched her reaction as Lee called out her name.

Hearing the shout Tenten jumped up and spun around to face the two approaching boys, pretending to be immensely surprised. Pocketing the kunai she had been sharpening, she walked down the slight slope of the ground toward them, smiling brightly. She greeted them, and as usual Lee burst out how happy he was to see her, sounding as though he hadn't seen her in years, when the last time he saw her was only yesterday. Turning toward Neji, she realised that he was frowning slightly. Anyone else would have missed the slight downward curve at the corners of his mouth, but Tenten was both good at reading expressions and knew him well enough to know better.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

He hesitated for a bit, surprised that she had picked up that something was bothering him, before he answered.

"Did you know that we were coming toward you before Lee called out your name?" He said, his usual expressionless voice sounding slightly colder.

Taken aback Tenten shook her head in a silent no, hiding the sudden panic welling inside her. Why did Neji just ask her that question? Did he know that she knew they were coming? Did that mean he knew that she was hiding something because she was lying?

"Why'd you ask?" She said, managing to keep her voice calm and normal.

"Its bad that you can't detect people coming toward you. What if Lee and I got taken out somehow? We most certainly couldn't help you, and we could be in danger if you fail to notice someone approaching. I just think that it would be wise to learn that skill." He said.

"Alright, sure." She said, relief washing through her body, undoing the tight knots her panic had tied in her stomach. She was safe, he knew nothing, and this alone was enough for her to wave off the slightly insulted feeling growing inside her.

After a couple of minutes of easy banter between her and Lee, Gai finally came up the hill, greeting them with his natural exuberance, and they began their usual routine.

A couple of times, the small red book threatened to fall out of her pocket, but she always managed to grab hold of it in the end, and pushed it back into the depths of her pocket before any of the others could notice. Several times she almost wished it _would_ fall out, just so that they would know the truth. She had longed to tell her teammates about her life many times before, and today was no exception-especially with all of them trying to help her improve a skill she already aced-so that just for once, she could stop acting, and live this side of her life as her real self.

But everyone, especially Tenten, knows that sharing a secret is the most dangerous thing. The risk of rumours, being sold out and blackmail is just too great.

So she swallowed up her pain and longing, and then pretended to train Lee style, taking it all out on the log that she started punching. She kept on going, ingnoring the splinters that began to imbed themselves in her hand, because despite the slight pain she felt on her fingers, letting her anger out felt good...

...really good.

A/N: I'm really excited for this story, because for once I planned it all out instead of jumping strait in, and YAY, because I know what I'm going to do and exactly what's going to happen, which ultimately means quicker updates for you, DOUBLE YAY!

Anyway, please tell me what you think, any ideas that you have, or any critiques you'd like to make. In the end _you_ are the one reading it, so reviewing really helps me make it better for you =D

-An Imaginative Demiurge


	2. Progress

Identity  
_  
_Progress

Entry 5

I have only recently realised the dangers in writing all of this down. If I happen to misplace this, and someone finds it and reads it, my whole cover will be blown, and I am absolutely terrified of what might happen if it does. I have no place else to go.

I know that the chances of that ever happening are really slim, considering that the book is on me at all times, and that I only write in it when I am sure that there is no one around, but I guess I can't help but think about the worst. The organisation I work for has very strict rules, and although they don't specify that diaries aren't allowed to be kept, I'm pretty sure it comes under the rule of _'no written evidence or personal recounts must be left of any mission or information of the foundation'_.

Anyway, I think that it is because of my caution that I have only managed to write down four entries in nearly a month and a half. Believe me, I actually don't find writing all of this down a waste of time anymore, unlike how I felt when I started writing in this. It's actually the total opposite now, and I find that I really quite enjoy doing it, because it is the only time I can release all the thoughts I have bottled up in my head for the entire day.

I think the best part about it is that I can write in this small book for hours, tell it my deepest, darkest secrets and most importantly, not get judged, as I know I would have been if I was saying the exact same thing to a human.

I know because I get judged all the time, and even worse, I can tell by their eyes that the opinion they formed from their judgement was wrong.

Eyes can truly tell you so much more than words sometimes, as I have come to learn. Although I had already been extremely good at it, training my emotions had been another thing I learnt, or rather, further developed once I came here. The foundation drilled into me the importance of emotions portrayed through eyes.

The foundation. Simply mentioning those words could get me into a lot of trouble. I had been so fortunate to be taken in by Master, and yet here I am, jeopardising the only life I had known that made me somewhat happy. I know that no one will ever see this though, so I might as well get onto the topic that has been such a major part of my life.

I work for the Undercover Assassination of Threats foundation. Ideally, the threats we assassinate should be ones that pose danger on Konoha alone, but instead, we just kill off anyone that would be a threat to any country or land. I guess the philosophy behind it is that while peacetime lasts, why should we let anyone suffer, even if they're from somewhere else.

Although no one has ever said anything, my guess is that the flip side of it is that in war time, we screw the _'no one should suffer' _ideal and just kill those that are dangers to Konoha or its allies.

Anyway, apart from that the name is pretty self explanatory, and has even been lovingly shortened down by the seven members of our squad to U-CAT. The name caught on so much, that our base, which is also the building we all live in, was nicknamed the cat pen, and to further the story, the front of our building was converted into a cat supply store which Master runs.

It was a disguise that was so far from the truth, and the extremely ironic thing was that the whole village calls our building the cat pen, yet they've no idea just how much secret information they could derive from that name.

Thanks to some very strategically placed trees and fencing, the rear of the building doesn't look like it's connected to the store, which is one of the most important things. It sounds stupid, but it was done so that no one would see all of us going into the cat store whenever we came home. Honestly, how suspicious would that look to a ninja, or even the everyday civilian who wandered past, to see several trained shinobi disappear into the cat shop?

Extremely.

Instead, the back resembles the cheap, yet large, run of the mill, public housing complexes that no one with any social standing would ever be caught in.

Because of this, the several times I walked home with my team no suspicion was ever aroused. They knew I was an orphan, and that my meagre genin income wasn't enough to buy me anything spectacular.

However, that façade lasts only in the store and apartments on the very rear of the building. If you entered any one of the apartments, it would look used enough to give it some real authenticity, and it _was_ used often, because we actually didlive in those apartments when we weren't away on missions or assignments.

But in every single apartment, there was the door at the very back, hidden by various objects of furniture that were the tenants choosing - mine was a bookshelf – which could only be opened by the owner's chakra, and it led to the huge, spacious middle section between the store and apartments that was the base of the foundation.

It was in there that the main bulk of organising, plotting and special training happened. The foundation was very strict on training, and every single one of us, from sixty year old Shizuki to me, had to go through it at some stage. The training we endured included that of a normal ninja, yet some of it was very different. First of all, we had emotion control training, which often doubled up as acting class.

Assassination isn't an easy thing to do, and fooling a ninja is the first step. Shinobi in general are less trusting than any civilian, and see through most guises that aren't well planed enough, or aren't followed through to perfection.

Naturally because of that, acting was one of the most important things we had to learn, but not just for assassination. It was also for helping us keep up the pretence of our day to day lives. Shinobi may be hard to fool, but it isn't impossible if you know what you're doing. My life is probably one of the best examples of this.

The next type of training isn't all that unusual: stealth and camouflage. The only difference is that U-CAT puts a lot of emphasis on it, more than what is normally done. All assignments we get won't involve using an undercover role, and on the odd occasion, we could get a mushroom mission.

It's a strange name, but our Master has always been massive fan of acronyms, which is pretty obvious given our organisation's name, but he also has a rather strange sense of humour. I mean, he _was_ the one that named our building the cat pen, of all things. Anyway, it's because of this sense of humour that these missions are called mushrooms.

Previously, they used to be called HITAKI, which literally stands for _'hide in tree and kill invisibly'_. This refers to the missions where we hide in the surrounding area and kill our target whenever they pass by or if the time is right, without giving up our position or drawing attention to ourselves, and then just leave, as if we were never there. No acting or role-playing required. Anyway, it always used to amuse Master how the acronym sounded like _shiitake_ when you added an 's' to it, so he used to jokingly call them mushroom missions, and just like cat pen, the name stuck.

I've never been on any missions, but I think that out of the two types, I'd be better at mushrooms, partly because I'd be less worried about being found out, but mostly because of my bloodline limit.

Although not everyone at the foundation has this kind of training, the thing I focus and train on the most is in fact my bloodline limit. Only two out of the seven people in the organisation have a kekkei genkai, so we are the only ones that have extra training on utilizing them. The remaining six members who don't have bloodline limits are with us simply because they all have some traits that make them perfect for assassination.

They are really lucky though, they don't have the pressure of making their bloodline limit into perfect assassination tool, which I guess mine could potentially be, if I could only work out the glitches in it.

Once again though, that is much easier said that done.

(Real Life)

Tenten stood up from the seat near the only window that she had. She had never felt quite so calm as she had previously been, sitting there, bathed in the dying sunlight of the setting sun, her back warmed and her hands flowing with the words that told of her thoughts and life. However, as always, that tranquil state of mind wasn't to last.

Tucking the small book into her pocket, she walked over to answer the incessant knocking of her front door.

Internally she was glad that she had finished writing down a sufficient amount in her diary, not for herself, but for the sake of whomever it was that was knocking on her door. Had the person interrupted her even a second sooner she would not have been happy, and no matter who the poor soul was, they would have been in a lot of pain.

Knowing that her fellows from the foundation generally used the back door to her apartment if they wanted something, Tenten was extremely surprised to see Shizuki at her door. Inviting him in, she noticed that the old man was unusually calm, almost as if he knew the mood the place had just been in. That was just his demeanour though, and as she looked in his eyes while uttering a casual greeting, she saw the underlying excitement that lay within them.

Surveying him from the corner of her eyes, while simultaneously asking him if he would like a cup of tea, she once again marvelled at how young and fit the sixty year old man looked for his age, before quickly ducking into the kitchen. She didn't even wait to hear his answer, knowing from the experience gained from the many times he came over before that it would be a yes.

It was only after the kettle had boiled and the tea was made that Tenten went to go ask him what his business was. The old man was sitting on the plush couch in the middle of her living room when she came out, so she set his tea on the table in front of it, and sat next to him, their familiarity around each other making the silence not awkward, but comfortable.

"So Shizuki, I'm hoping you came for a particular reason, other than wasting my tea of course," she said, breaking the silence of the room, a slight smile gracing her face.

Shizuki chuckled, "Yes, actually, I did, and anyway, by wasting your tea I'm saving others the torture of drinking this terrible concoction of warm leaf juice that you seem to _think_ is tea!"

"Haha, that is absolutely hilarious," Tenten said, rolling her eyes, knowing just how much he liked her tea. He probably popped in about three times a _week_ just for a cup of tea and a chat.

"But seriously, why are you here?"

Shizuki sobered up, and looked at her in the face. In his eyes Tenten could see the expertly concealed excitement at the announcement he was about to make come to the surface, which in turn made her want to hear it even more. "Well, you know that issue you've been having lately, you know, the one with your bloodline limit," he paused, continuing only once she had nodded.

"Well…I think I found a way around it."

Tenten froze. All this time, she had just one obstacle that prevented her from going on any missions.

In all her fourteen years, Tenten rarely dared to hope. In the past, anytime she did, it all just got crushed, and so she learned better than to do so. However, listening to the old man talk about his ideas, she began to hope once again, confident this time that her dreams wouldn't end up the same as before.

Putting all her trust in the old man's ideas, Tenten cocked her head toward him and listened to what he had to say.

According to him, these few inventions of his would make utilising her bloodline limit perfect for assignation, and even in just regular fighting. If he was right, it'd mean that she would be finally be needed.

For once in her life.

Entry 7

I guess by now it should come off as no surprise that I never told anyone just how insecure I am about my position here at U-CAT.

Everyone else had done so many things by my age, even Matsuda, and he's just one year older that me. Not only that, but everyone else seems to have made themselves very much needed in the foundation, whereas I am still dead weight, the unnecessary extra that doesn't really need to be there, but still is.

For starters, there's Shizuki. The man was one of the first people to have ever been recruited into the foundation, and although he never actually goes on missions anymore, he is still probably one the most valuable assets we could have. All his experience of the field, coupled with his vast knowledge and sharp mind makes him one of the best tacticians we could find.

He is a genius when it comes to making plans, and in my opinion, the only reason any of them fail is not because they weren't good, but rather the person carrying it out didn't do a proper job, or stuffed something up.

Currently, there are two people in the foundation that don't go on any missions. The first is obviously Shizuki, in charge of tactics, but there is also Kune, our official spy. The cool thing is that he never has to leave the base to do any spy work or information gathering. The lucky guy can summon rats, and so he simply sends one of them out to do all of his dirty work.

Rats are a common pest in all the lands, so to see one around isn't that uncommon and therefore doesn't raise any suspicion. Being different to normal rats, these ones actually have excellent hearing, and don't miss a word, which is perfect because a person can spill all their secrets not knowing that they were overheard by a pair of ears they thought were harmless.

As well as that, Kune generally trains his rats before a mission to recognise a few written words if they need to retrieve some sort of file, or written information. Although they aren't normal rats, they aren't some sort of super breed either, and they don't actually understand the characters of the words they see, but they are smart enough to distinguish between words and memorise what they look like, which in the end is all we need.

Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that without Kune, we'd have a much harder time trying to get info. Potentially life threatening, considering that the rats have managed to break into areas no unauthorised human could have done otherwise.

Kune is priceless to us, that's for sure, but sometimes I can't help worrying about him. He's thirty-five, he has no friends except for his rats, and his behaviour - and even appearance - is becoming increasing more rat-like. I think he even forgets how to speak properly, because at certain times, the only thing that would make its way out of his mouth would be the low croons and high pitched squeaks that he uses to communicate with his precious rats.

At the rate he's going he'll never find a girl, especially considering that there are only two at the foundation, Bi and myself. We're way too young for him anyway.

Bi is only nineteen.

She is one of my closest friends and my advisor in life's problems, almost like an older sister. She also happens to be the most beautiful person I have ever seen.

Her face is so symmetrical, and there is not a blemish on it. She's got the most amazing long, chestnut hair, and her eyes are a deep green colour that complements it perfectly. Ideally, I _should_ be jealous of her, but I simply am not. I think it's her position in our ranks that puts me off so much.

I _never_ want to find myself in her shoes, but I know that being the only other girl here I will have be the one to fill her place if she is unable to do something.

I dread the day that happens, because unfortunately, the beautiful Bi is our resident prostitute assassin.

Her job is to seduce men, lead them to the pillows, kill them, and then slip away into the dark of the night. In a strange way, I find that I really do admire her, even though I hate her job. The shady world of prostitution isn't for the faint hearted; for many it isn't even a choice, and yet Bi has to willingly return to it with every mission she gets.

The thing I find amazing is that her spirit still isn't broken. She's such a strong person, to allow people to violate her like that, and still come back the way she was. If it is wearing her down, then she doesn't show it, and for that, my respect for her doubles.

Occasionally, Bi kills her targets with poison and that is where Sugito, our current poison expert, comes in. His style of assassination involves putting undetectable poisons into food, drink or even in the surrounding air as means of killing his target. It's very effective, and he even managed to create several poisons that disappear from the person's system after they die, leaving absolutely no hints as to how and who could have done it.

The extremely sad thing, however, is that Sugito is dying. A couple of years ago he was diagnosed with an illness, and he recently became terminal. Knowing that his passing would mean that all the knowledge he had gained on poisons over the years would be lost, he convinced the Master to let him get on an apprentice.

The Master is extremely touchy about recruiting people, and so it took a long time to persuade him, but he approved in the end. Ancho is the newest member of our squad, but he's got such a great personality that it didn't take long for him to become like family to us. He might possibly be one of the smartest people I have ever met, and he's actually a decent fighter. Before I graduated from the academy last year, he was the one I trained with. Of course I was no match for him, but he would always correct my technique or give me new tips.

I think he used me as a warm up and then went to spar with Bi afterwards. They've never said anything, but I've always thought that there was something between them, and that the actual fighting in their _'sparring'_ sessions wasn't the only thing getting them hot and sweaty. I honestly can't blame Bi, because at twenty-one, Ancho is probably a very attractive break from the ugly, middle-aged men she has to deal with on her missions.

Those are just my observations though, and until someone says something, my lips are sealed.

Okay, so with five people covered, there's just one more member to our team.

Matsuda.

Matsuda is an orphan, just like me.

He's got a bloodline limit, just like me.

He's only one year older than me, and being in the foundation, we both go through roughly the same things.

Given all this, one would think that we'd be the greatest of friends…

…they'd be wrong.

He was recruited when he was five, three full years before me, also for his bloodline limit. The poor boy had accidentally killed his parents when his kekkei genkai awoke in him, and as is expected, it scarred him in a way he could never forget. Naturally intrigued by his ability, the Master adopted him.

Anyway, ever since I came along he's had this thing against me. I don't know what it is, or how I started it, but somehow he hates me, and after being around all that negative energy I guess I caught on, and now I can't stand him either.

Despite all this, his bloodline limit is extremely fascinating, and it has several useful purposes in the world of assassination. His limit allows him to combine the elements of water and fire to produce mist. It doesn't sound very fancy, or useful apart from being a good cover, but the thing about this mist is that it dematerializes anything that it touches.

The perfect thing about that is the mist looks like fog, and all he needs is a lure to get the target out to a naturally foggy place. He can then use his mist, which would be inconspicuous in its surroundings, and poof, the body disappears.

It gets better, because without a body, nothing is ever sure. No one will know if its assassination, or if the person's run away, or even if they been abducted. There will be no proof, or even a hint as to how they died. The mist would just make them disappear off the face of this earth.

The perfect outcome.

It's pretty obvious now why Matsuda was so coveted by the Master. His bloodline limit was perfect. It was needed.

I'm coming around full circle now, but I guess the whole point of that entire passage was to prove just how much everyone is needed here. All of them have their individual skills and so much to contribute to the foundation, whereas I can't do anything.

That's going to change though, thanks to Shizuki and his ideas, and finally I'll be able to serve the one purpose I was inducted for.

To Kill.

(Real Life)

The '_thunk' _of sharp metal objects hitting wood at rapid speeds echoed through the small clearing for what would have been the fourth time in a row, followed by the clinking of the ones that didn't lodge in the trees properly falling off, littering the forest floor further and making grey the predominant colour beneath their feet.

By now, Tenten knew that relentlessly throwing weapons at Neji wasn't the most effective strategy, but she wasn't really focusing on what she was doing. Instead, she was using it as a distraction to test out one of the ideas Shizuki had given her, thinking that if it worked against Neji's ultimate defence it _had _to be good.

She pulled out one of her weapon scrolls, summoning all of the weapons that she had sealed in it and sending a deadly influx of metal toward Neji. As expected, he got into his Kaiten stance.

Quickly dodging behind a tree before another wave of weapons came flying back at her, Tenten took the opportunity to prepare herself for what she would do next. She had quickly come to learn that the best time to do anything without Neji noticing while they were fighting was during his Heavenly Spin, because he simply could not focus on her turning that fast.

Pulling two of the tiny mosquito shaped pods out of her pouch before he could come to a stop, she frantically attached some chakra strings and guided them right behind Neji's blind spot, just as he had stopped spinning.

Crouched behind that tree, she lay in wait, knowing that Neji could see her perfectly well with his Byakugan activated, and that staying in one place for a long time could be a fatal mistake when facing an opponent like him. Studying the area around her for a better place to attack from, she realised that this would be the perfect opportunity to try the other instrument that Shizuki had designed for her. Jumping up onto a more exposed, yet higher branch, she swivelled on her foot to face Neji, simultaneously drawing out the shiny, curved weapon in one fluid movement.

If she hadn't been so focused on what she was doing, she might have noticed the surprised look crossing Neji's face. If she hadn't been keeping her eyes on the weapon, then she might have realised that the grace, swiftness and agility she just demonstrated in that move wasn't like '_her'_ at all, and that it was most likely the cause of the look Neji was now trying to hide.

Drawing her arm back, she then threw the blade the way she remembered Shizuki showing her. She hoped that the result would be same as with him.

The day after he had come to her apartment, Shizuki showed her what he had in mind. First he presented the mosquitoes, the tool she'd most likely use in assassination. He demonstrated how to create and use chakra strings, and how to control the mosquitoes through them.

When she had finally grasped how to do it, he showed her how to make her strings blend into the surroundings, how to use as little chakra as possible, and eventually how to mask it completely, so that in a real situation the person they were killing off would not realise the unusual presence of chakra as easy.

When they were done with that, he pulled out a new weapon, designed in a way she had never seen before *. It was sharp all around the sides and on the edges, except for a small section covered in leather close to the edge on one side. The weapon was curved inward, in a triangular way, so that it made a sharp bend in the middle instead of a gradual one. Tenten had marvelled at it, despite her confusion at what it did, because it was an expertly crafted instrument.

She had carefully run her hand along it, and in doing so discovered slight indentations in the metal. Flipping it over she found the corner of one side had an inscription on it. Although the writing was beautiful, the meaning of the message evaded her. Despite her ignorance though, the carving managed to send a shiver up her spine, and she found that the words had somehow etched themselves into her brain:

"_I will return, but bathed in a new identity"_

When she asked Shizuki about it, he didn't answer. He simply stood up and demonstrated how to use it. She had fully expected him to wield it as if it was a prototype of a machete but to her surprise, he threw it. At first, it was unremarkable, its flight uncanny to that of a kunai, except for the spinning motion. However, Tenten got the shock of her life when halfway through its journey, it completely spun around and came rocketing back.

Shizuki had caught it deftly, laughing at the expression on her face. '_It's magic!'_ she had thought then, though now, she realised it was not some sort of sorcery, but rather an art that could very easily be mastered.

In her infinite creativeness, Tenten had decided to name the weapon the '_Returning Kunai',_ and as she watched its flight toward Neji, she hoped she could make it live up to its name.

For once, she didn't need the weapon to make contact with him. She just wanted to see if it would still work in the heat of battle, and to her absolute glee it did, with better results that she had hoped for. Neji was not expecting it to return, so he jumped to the left to avoid it, yet unfortunately for him the weapon curved back on the side he jumped to, and although he did manage to avoid it again, he was so surprised and unprepared that it actually managed to slice his arm quite deeply.

On instinct, Tenten reached out and caught the weapon as it returned, but her mind was not in it. The shock was too great, for both of them. As she stared at the tiny beads of blood decorating the edge of the blade before they dripped off, she realised that it was the first time she had actually been able to injure Neji before he got too tired to use his ultimate defence.

What she did not realise, was that she would get an even greater shock the moment she looked back up. When her eyes did finally leave the blade and meet up with Neji's, she felt the world had come to a stop…

…because Neji, the human ice-cube with no emotions, was genuinely _smiling_ at her.

Had she been who she was pretending to be, she might have been overwhelmed at the strangeness of it all, however the real Tenten was trained to never let herself be completely distracted, and rather than revelling in this moment, she used it as an opportunity to use the mosquitoes she had in place.

She returned a smile to keep him distracted, and sent the miniscule mosquito into his neck, not daring to breathe lest he would notice the artificial bugs in his jugular. Luck was on her side though, and he didn't feel them at all, not even when the minute pods were being removed from his carotid artery. The artificial smile she had on her face turned into a genuine one, as she drew the mosquitoes back in, and pocketed them.

She was ecstatic that both the inventions had worked so well, and there was a little extra skip in her step as she jumped down from the tree.

As she neared Neji, she noticed that the smile was gone, but the aura surrounding him was still a pleasant one. They generally never ended a sparring session so soon, but for some reason it seemed like an appropriate time to stop. She still could not understand why Neji would smile right after getting wounded, and for a second she wondered if actually was emo, and physical pain bought him release, or pleasure or whatever it was that it did.

Immediately she crushed that idea. Neji may not be a bundle of optimism to be around, but he most certainly wasn't prone to self harm. One would not occasionally mutter about getting revenge on the pain a certain main house caused them if their ultimate goal was hurting themselves even further.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, once he was close enough to hear her properly.

"Hn."

Tenten rolled her eyes, about to reprimand him for having such a monosyllabic vocabulary, when he surprisingly went on.

"But I'm impressed with you. You've never been able to injure me like this before."

Tenten was severely unused to hearing so many words come out of his mouth.

"You've improved Tenten, you're no longer as useless as you were before."

"So nice to know you had such much faith in me," she said sarcastically, a small amount of her wit rolling off her tongue.

Although Neji didn't even crack a smile, he continued, ceaselessly surprising her how unusually chatty he was today.

"What was that weapon you just used anyway? I don't think I've ever seen it before. Where did you get it from?"

'_Shit'_ she thought, panicking slightly.

"Oh, that…um, well…the man who owns the…cat store, knows a man who makes weapons, and when he heard that I was into them…he gave it to me?"

'_Damn, that was_ not _the smoothest lie_ _I ever told_, _and why the hell did I make it sound like a question?' _She thought, mentally chiding herself.

She looked over at Neji. He didn't look convinced.

'_Crap! Think Tenten…oh! I need a distraction. But what? Come on, come on…'_

The sight of all the weapons strewn across the clearing's floor gave her an idea.

"Geez, we made such a mess, the place looks like crap. Hey, why don't help me pick up all these weapons." She said, already starting to do it. Looking slyly at Neji's face she could see the suspicion fading as he began to think of something else.

'_Good, it's working,' _she thought.

"Why? They're not mine." Neji said, watching her bend down to pick up the assorted sharp objects around her as he began bandaging his injured arm.

"Good observation. Not a good enough excuse." She muttered, her voice muffled thanks to the several kunai held in her mouth as she sat down. Getting out her scroll, she prepared to send the weapons back into it, silently thanking them for distracting Neji.

"I'm not doing it!"

Tenten's puppy dog eyes came into action. Forget about distracting him, looking around she realised she actually did need his help, or else it would take a really long time just to pack them up.

"…"

"…"

The eyes grew wider.

"No."

"Oh, come on!" She said, exasperated, "They may be mine but it's _your_ fault they're all over the place like this. Anyway, you can just think of it as training. We'll see who can pick up the most, in the fastest time."

"Alright, fine." He said, giving in. After all, training _was_ important if he wanted to thwart Fate's unruly grip on his life. Quickly, she sealed away the bit that she had already collected as he finished tying the knot on the bandage. Standing up, she waited till he was done.

"You ready?"

He nodded.

"Okay, 3…2…1…GO!"

They took off, reserved at first, and then gradually becoming wilder. Soon they were running around like headless chickens, trying to grab weapons before the other could. Shrill giggles occasionally emanated now and then from Tenten, and even the Hyuuga couldn't keep a slight smile, almost a smirk, off his face. The two tried many ways to make to other slip up, and soon they found themselves coming up with the most ridiculous strategies…

Don't worry, only a _few _trees were harmed by the explosive tags.

In the end Tenten had won, simply because her superior aim allowed her to throw the weapons she collected into a pile instead of running to and fro like Neji had to every few minutes to deposit his weapons once they had reached the capacity of what he could hold.

After everything was nicely sealed away, they began walking home together. Tenten's apartment was on the way to the Hyuuga compound, so neither one was going out of their way, and they were both deeply engrossed in a conversation - for the first time – that they didn't want to stop and part ways anyhow. It was strange, but Tenten found that she really enjoyed talking to Neji. He was insightful and knew many things, although his frequent mutterings of fate did get a bit tiring.

As they passed the cat store, Tenten realised that today was probably one of the most fun days she had after a long time, and the fact that she shared it with Neji was probably the most unexpected thing of it all.

All this time she thought that she would have to amp up all her charm and wit to get him to like her, but in the end it turned out that all she had to do was prove that she was capable of holding her own in battle, that she was strong, and that she was a serious kunoichi – rather than annoying fangirl – to do it.

The fact that she had actually been good enough to get past his Byakugan and injure him while he wasn't tired out earned her his respect, and that was more than she could ever have asked for.

Another thing she was grateful for was that throughout their entire conversation, not once did Neji ask about her personal life. Although she didn't have a problem with it before, she really didn't want to lie to him anymore, and thankfully he never gave her a reason to.

It was a day of firsts for Tenten. It was the first time she had injured Neji in a spar. The first time she had the ability to use her bloodline limit in battle, if she had wanted to. The first time Neji had considered her as a friend. The first time she had felt truly close to someone aside from those living with her at the cat pen.

When she was finally behind the closed doors of her home, Tenten smiled.

For all she knew, this could be the start of a truly beautiful friendship.

A/N: Hey everyone :)

Okay, first of all I'm so sorry about the delay in getting this up, but I have a really good excuse…

… I spent one month away on a study tour in FRANCE!

I don't even know if I have any French readers, but even if I don't, I feel this weird need to say just how beautiful France was, and I really just want to go back there.

Okay, so I have set up a little challenge for myself. Before I left, my friend dared me to somehow involve mushrooms in this chapter as a joke, and so the mushroom mission was born. I'm sorry if it seemed really strange at the time, but I had to fit it in somewhere, and I wanted to be a bit more creative than "Tenten was eating mushrooms."

Anyway, that gave me an idea. If any of you want to give me a word, or an idea or even an object that you want me to involve in any of my chapters, write it in as part of your review or inbox me it, and I promise I will try as hard as I can to get your word/ idea/ object in. Who knows, your word/ idea/ object could end up completely changing the course of this story!

* Just imagine a metal boomerang. That was kind of the weapon I was going for/

Once again, please tell me what you think, any ideas that you have, or any critiques you'd like to make. In the end _you _are the one reading it, so reviewing really helps me make it better for you.

Happy Easter all of you!

- An Imaginative Demiurge


	3. Bloodline

Note: Underlined words are just words that you asked me to put in.

Bloodline

Entry 10

Fate had a funny way of doing things.

It gave me parents only to take them away. It left me in the care of a grandmother only to be denied love anyway. Then it killed her and gave me a name.

Then it gave me a bloodline limit, only to be useless all the same. Now I overcame my problem, and I'm ready to go on missions, but the very first one I get, I have to take Matsuda along with me.

Great. A whole day spent with no one but him…my dream come true.

That was sarcasm.

The surprising thing though, is that I'm so happy about getting a mission that I can't even be completely brought down by the fact that he'll be tagging along with me. This is the opportunity I've been waiting for since I was eight, and I'm not going let him ruin that.

Actually, I don't think anything can ruin my mood now. Even Neji noticed how optimistic I was today, and got slightly freaked out. I think I even started talking about how beautiful the sun was at some point, as well as a whole extra load of sentimental crap. When he asked me why I was so happy I just said that my birthday was coming up, and it's true, my birthday _is_ coming up. Okay, I know I said that I wouldn't lie to Neji anymore, and I didn't.

Honest.

I _am_ looking forward to my birthday; I just left out the part about me getting my first mission as a full fledged assassin.

Well, actually, I guess my first mission is more like a form euthanasia rather than assignation, but I still get to use my kekkei genkai for it. Basically my task is to kill some old man who is an important clan leader in one of the independent villages outside Konoha, in the fire country. Apparently he contracted some sort disease and although it's not killing him, he is in a lot of pain. So far, it seems incurable, and the clan is split into two, one side wanting to kill him and free him from his pain and the other wanting to hold on until he announces his successor.

With neither side giving in, the man's son contacted us and asked for us to kill him in secret, making it look natural.

'_I know I shouldn't ask this of you, but he is my father, and to watch him suffer through another day of pain is hurting me too. To not see him in his old rocking chair doing crosswords and Sudoku is like a slap in the face each morning, and to know that he will never speak his wise words again is more of a blow than death.' _he had written in his heartfelt letter to us. At first Master thought the request was too insignificant for us to waste our resources on it, but I pleaded with him and eventually he approved. I don't know why I wanted to follow through with this so much, but I think it has something to do with the man's love for his father, something I wish I had experienced more of.

Originally Master was planning on sending Ancho on the mission, in order to test how much knowledge he had gained from Sugito, and if he was ready to take on the role of poison expert from him. Sugito had developed many poisons that make the heart stop in his lifetime, and the perfect way to use it was with a disease like this. Because no one knows a lot about this sickness, all the man's son has to do is pretend like his father had a heart attack in his sleep, and there would be no one there to challenge him. For all they knew it could have been a direct result of the illness.

Of course this was before Shizuki showed me his inventions, and before I was able to utilise my bloodline limit in assassination. I had met up with Master a few days after my fight with Neji to tell him the good news, and I was really surprised at how genuinely happy he was for me. He had even called everyone else into the room and announced it to them, saying that we should celebrate my success.

He gave me Ancho's mission on a whim. I was overjoyed.

'_I know you won't fail but this is your first mission, I have set up the necessary precautions just in case.'_

Of course, he then decided to ruin it by telling me that the precautions he had in mind was actually just sending Matsuda along with me.

That night we all stayed up late, talking and – for every one but Matsuda and I – drinking. I was actually having a lot of fun weaselling secrets out of everyone in their drunken state, and it didn't bother me at all when Matsuda rudely walked out, saying he was going to bed and then muttering something about _'immaturity'_ under his breath. Heck, I probably had _more_ fun without his dreary presence around.

Besides, I wasn't exactly happy with him. Not that I'm usually pleasant to him, but he had indirectly spoiled my first mission, and I was being even more uncivil to him than normal. Still, I guess I could have toned it down a little.

It didn't matter though, because I actually found out a lot that night.

For starters, my suspicions about Bi and Ancho were confirmed when she said something about going to train and then winked really obviously at him before exiting.

I have to give some credit to her, because despite her slightly intoxicated state, she seemed to have registered that everyone was practically drunk, and wouldn't have noticed that wink anyway. Unfortunately for her though, she seemed to have forgotten that I was still there. Ancho followed shortly after, saying something along the lines of _"__Tobuscus__"_ and how no one was ready for the _"apocalypse of technology" _that he has foretold. Also, he mentioned something about a net and a tube*.

Who knows what the hell that was, but I'm guessing his alcohol addled brain was just too distracted on something else at the time, if you get my drift.

Once they were gone, I set to work on fishing things out of Master, Kune and Shizuki. Even as drunk as he was, the Master didn't give away anything. The mystery of that man would be one I'd probably never solve, considering he never lets anything personal about him slip. In fact the only things I know about him, even after six years, is that his parents died, he had a sister who died, and that his sister had a bear called Tenten.

Not much.

Not very important either. The only other thing I could work out is his age, which would be roughly in his mid forties.

But then again, genjutsu can do many wonderful things. For all I knew he could be a shrivelled old man.

Kune on the other hand probably talked more than he ever had in his life. However after about half an hour, he slipped back into his ratty state of mind, and proceeded to talk just as much as before, only this time in the incomprehensible rat speak of his.

By the time I gave up on those two, Shizuki had already passed out. That didn't matter though. I probably knew more about him already than anyone else except for Bi.

Finally, I noticed Sugito in the corner. The thirty-nine year old was sitting alone in a corner not talking, but rather sullenly staring at a spot on the floor just above his feet instead.

The immediate thing I had noticed about him was that he wasn't just drinking for the fun of it. He actually seemed to be drinking to drown out some sort of pain. I had tried to talk to him; get him to tell me what was going on.

It was no use.

He wouldn't answer. I don't know if it was a willing choice, or if he was just too drunk to understand what I was saying to him. Whatever it was, all my attempts were turning out to be futile. I couldn't even get him to look at me let alone talk. Giving up, I had stood to leave. There was no one left to pry secrets from anyway.

It was only after I'd taken a few steps toward the door that he gazed up from the spot near his shoes that he'd been looking at all this time. His bloodshot eyes were distant, coming in and out of focus, as if he was trying to see exactly where I was.

Turning, I had gone back to him, waiting for him to say something. Still, he couldn't seem to see properly, but something finally clicked in his clouded mind, and he said to me, despite looking at no one in particular, a few words that I wish I hadn't heard at all.

"Tenten?... It's getting worse."

(Real Life)

'_Cough cough'_

"I'm sorry Neji, but I can't… I'm really sick."

Tenten stood by the door of her small apartment, squinting up at Neji's unblemished face as though the sun was far too bright behind him. With her usual twin buns in sad looking heaps that sagged on both sides, her lithe body clad in flannel pyjamas, and her feet warmed by a thick pair of socks, the illusion of sickness she was trying convey was extremely convincing. Not to mention that she had nailed the scratchy voice and droopy eyes.

"…Hn"

Tenten frowned minutely at this. Ever since that particular training session, Neji had started actually using _sentences_ when talking to her_, _and she felt like there really was a bond growing between the two of them.

Before, she probably would have risked her life for him because he was her comrade and teammate, and it was her duty as a Konoha kunoichi to do so. Now however, she would gladly die for him, as well as Lee, simply because they were a part of the measly number of true friends she had. Once Tenten considered someone a friend, there was nothing she wouldn't do for them

Anyway, the very fact that he was referring back to monosyllables and the infuriating sound of _'Hn' _around herwas a dead set give away that he wasn't happy, and Tenten could understand why. A guy like Neji often did not look forward to the endless hours of optimism that came with training alongside Gai and Lee. In one of their long, yet recent, conversations he had actually said how much he couldn't stand Gai and Lee, even though they were some of his closest friends, and that he was glad that he had at least one sane person on his team.

Perhaps the fact that he had indirectly said he liked having her on his team was the more prominent reason this particular conversation stuck in her head.

She stared down at the floor, in mock shame.

"You know me. I _hate_ missing training, but today I just don't feel up to it. In fact, I don't feel up to anything. All I want to do is just curl up in my bed and sleep…which is actually exactly what I'll do after you leave."

She looked into those pale lavender orbs, and put on her best _'I'm feeble and sickly at the moment' _expression possible. As expected, he bought it, and for what might have been the hundredth time, Tenten thanked whichever God was up there for her skills at lying.

He nodded once and began walking away. After a few steps though, he turned around.

"I hope you realise that I'm going to make you pay for leaving me with Gai and Lee for a whole day once your better. I've got a new move I've been meaning to try, and what better place than our sparring sessions." he said evilly.

Tenten gulped visibly, and he smirked at this before continuing to walk away.

After she shut the door, she waited in the shadows behind the window, the perfect place to see and yet no be seen, and watched until she was sure he was completely gone. Once she was certain that he wasn't there anymore she finally got into action.

She began by ripping off her flannel pyjamas as quickly as she could, revealing her usual attire of a light pink, Chinese-style top and calf-length green pants, then grabbing her sandals and hopping towards the hidden back door while simultaneously trying to pull of her socks . Running around like crazy, she actually looked more like a hurricane rather than a girl, trying to get her mission pack and weapon scrolls into their appropriate places, while properly redoing her hair.

All that took about three minutes, but Tenten didn't have time to marvel at the records she could have potentially broken. Instead she pushed aside the bookcase, send a short burst of chakra into the sensor – which recognised it as hers – and then walked through the door once the seals deactivated.

"You're late. What took you so long?"

Tenten froze. She knew this was coming, but the very fact that the person she hated most was the one saying those words made them sound much worse than what they actually were.

She looked at Matsuda through slightly narrowed eyes. He was casually leaning against the table they used to lay out the blue-print of plans for various missions, with his arms crossed. She had to admit, he wasn't all that bad looking.

He wore the usual chunin flak jacket, with a black long sleeve shirt and black pants – an ensemble that seemed to emphasise his muscular physique. His brown hair was messy in an almost artistic way, one that made him look – dare she say it – sexy rather than sloppy.

Most importantly though, he had these incredible electric blue eyes, which could cut glass if he put enough hate into it.

Unfortunately they only seemed to want to cut her, out of all people, and she knew they could hold kinder, softer expressions to the same extent. She herself had seen those same eyes filled with just as much compassion, just never directed at her. Mostly this was when he went and played with the orphans in the nearby orphanage. He really seemed to be loved by all the children there, and the cold edge he had whenever she was in his presence simply melted away.

He was a good guy, yet for some reason he hated her. She just didn't understand.

"You've never met my teammate. You don't know how hard it is to lie to him, and anyway three minutes isn't going to jeopardise anything." She retorted.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Timing is everything, and if this mission fails, it'll be because of _your_ lost three minutes." He uttered menacingly, his eyes piercing through her, attempting to break her down.

"Whatever. Let's just go." She said, not wanting to get into an all out fight before they even left.

He nodded stiffly at her and they both exited the building, carefully picking their way to the edge of the forest where they were meant to set out.

U-CAT had its own section of the monolith wall under its control, and although that may sound like a lot, Tenten knew that it basically meant that they had a hidden door only they could operate under their control, which ended up being a mere sliver in comparison to the rest of it. It was important though, because it meant no questions would be asked by the guards, and less people harassing them with unanswerable questions as they walked through the village on the way out.

After checking that they had everything once more, Matsuda and Tenten wordlessly went through the door, and set off into the depths of the forest.

She had though that the trip would feel like forever because of how uncomfortable it would be travelling with Matsuda, but thankfully he seemed to have adopted a strictly business approach to this mission, and had left behind any personal feelings toward her back in Konoha. Tenten did the same for him because of this, and instead of the snarky comments and piercing glares she was originally expecting throughout her journey, a calm, almost respectful quiet settled on the two of them.

She had even forgotten that he was there a few times, slipping into a reverie of sorts, and she only snapped out of it when he told her that they would stop of a break.

They sat by the banks of a fast flowing river, neither paying any attention to the other. Listening to the soft, calming noises of the water Tenten felt at peace. In this moment she seemed to be able to gather up enough courage to do something she had meant to a long time ago. Making sure that Matsuda wasn't looking; she climbed up a sturdy looking tree and rested on one of its branches, carefully pulling out her diary.

She took a deep breath and proceeded to banish all her doubts. She had to admit though; she was feeling a little apprehensive.

After all, it's not everyday you put your biggest secret at risk of being found out.

Entry 13

This book is filled with secrets.

Most of them are mine, and a few belong to others, but so far nothing is as important as this. I hold most of my secrets close to my heart, and so the only way anyone will know about them is if I told them so, or if they read my diary.

This entry will constantly be on my mind, and if I ever even so much as feel like my book is in danger of being read, this page will be the first one to be destroyed.

They say the way to defeat any ninja, no matter how skilled, is to understand him. Be able to predict what he will do, what move he will pull next, what he is thinking, his strategies, and what he loves and fears.

To help do such a thing, one must know how they fight, what attacks they have, what jutsus they specialise in, and any potential bloodline limits they may have.

Just as it says, my bloodline limit is my trump card. The move I will use only if deemed necessary, and the one I want no witnesses for that aren't dead.

But I'm jeopardising all of that by writing about it in my book, all because I feel some weird need to.

In basic terms, my bloodline limit is to _'Soul Snatch'_, as Bi puts it.

I was born with a strange little symbol just underneath the curve of my neck and shoulder, signifying that the bloodline that ran through my family was active in me. Sadly, no one has had this particular kekkei genkai in a long time, and so using it to trace who my parents were turned out to be futile.

The symbol itself was a bit of a mystery. Shizuki believes that it is a seal of some sort, but he doesn't know what exactly yet. He seems to believe that the answer to all the questions I have about my bloodline could possibly be answered it we manage to decode the seal.

It is rather peculiar looking though. It has four triangles facing inwards with a dot in the middle and four straight line running through the middle of each triangle, forming a square.

This symbol is the base of my bloodline. To make it work, I just need my targets blood, although believe me, I'm no vampire.

If I get a sample of someone's blood, and then put it on my symbol while holding the appropriate hand seal, their soul just leaves their body, leaving an empty carcass that I can animate or dispose of at my own will.

I have no idea where the soul ends up, but I hope that it's a good place.

My limit, or _'Soul Snatching'_, is perfect for assassination because all I have to do is snatch their soul, and give a simple command, such as _'Heart stop beating' _or _'Brain shut down'_ and it ends up looking like a natural death. No questions will be raised, and I can just slink away into the shadows.

Anyway, the problem I had been having all this time was that although the command part of it was perfect for assassination, the actual getting of the blood part was not. In a way my perfect aim must have come naturally to aid me in this first part. Being able to always hit my target would mean that I would always be able to draw blood, and once that happened the rest of the processes were easy.

However that was just in combat. At first, my big problem was that if I started throwing Kunai or even Senbon, at my target of assassination, they'd notice almost immediately, and my cover would be blown. I came up with a solution to this particular problem though.

As my capabilities of wielding weapons grew, so did my accuracy, and it developed to a stage where I could throw a Senbon so precisely that it would only graze the skin enough to draw a singly bead of blood, and the person would not even feel it.

I know because I tested it a few times on Matsuda. He didn't even react.

In the end it still didn't matter. Although I could draw blood, I had no way of bringing the weapon back to me to put on my seal, and in an assassination situation, I couldn't just get up out of my hiding spot and pick it up. I attempted using chakra stings, but the amount of chakra needed to control something with the mass of a weapon was too high to disguise properly. If the person didn't notice a weapon randomly zooming back to an unusual spot, they'd notice the presence of unwelcome chakra.

Thankfully though, that is no longer a problem thanks to Shizuki's Mosquito pods. They are so small and light, that the amount of chakra that goes into the strings that control them in nearly nonexistent, and unbelievably easy to mask. Also, it isn't unusual to see mosquitoes flying around, so that wouldn't raise any suspicion.

Just like regular mosquitoes, this pod can draw out blood without the person feeling them. Then all I have to do is bring them back and put it on my seal. It really is perfect, and I owe a lot to Shizuki.

He was even nice enough to invent the _'Returning Kunai'_ for me, which I was only to use in open combat.

So far, I've only tried my bloodline limit on animals. Don't worry, it wasn't animal cruelty. The dogs I tried on were ones that were going to be put down, so the fact that I was killing them painlessly made no difference.

It was still extremely sad nevertheless.

Anyway, because of that though, I am incredibly apprehensive of this mission.

This will be the first time I try this on a human, and for all I know, the results could be disastrous, or even worse, nonexistent.

My first kill. After this I will become tainted for life.

(Real Life)

"Tenten, its time to go," Matsuda called up to her from the base of the tree.

She looked up shocked. Half and hour couldn't possibly have passed, could it? Shaking it off, she stood up pocketing her diary. One thing she was immensely glad about was the fact that Matsuda would ask any questions. He'd ignore her as usual, and for once she'd be glad of it.

The remaining hour of travel time seemed to go by way to quickly for Tenten's liking, and as the small cluster of houses in the distance that made up the tiny village grew bigger every few seconds, she felt something she was severely unused to.

Nerves.

They jumped easily enough over the poorly constructed wall that surrounded the village from a branch that hung over it, and thankfully no one was outside to even witness it. Sneaking behind and on top of the houses and trees quite stealthily, they managed to make it all the way to the centre of the village in broad daylight without even being seen.

It was easy enough to tell which house was the leader's, because it was the only one that looked remotely better than the others.

Sure enough when they looked through a window from in a bush nearby they found an old man lying in bed, his hair and face wet with perspiration. A painful looking rash spread from one side of his face all the way to his naked torso and arms, and each breath he took seemed more painful than the last.

Pity swelled in Tenten's heart, and she no longer felt bad or guilty about what she was going to do. She was putting a person out of their suffering and that was a good thing to do. She wasn't necessarily content, for taking life away was never a happy thing, but she was glad that her first ever kill would be out of charity, not cold blood.

She looked over at Matsuda. He nodded.

It was time to carry out their mission.

Grabbing one small Mosquito pod out of a small pouch hidden in one of her many pockets, she carefully attached two chakra strings to it; one to control its movements and one for its bite. Slowly she guided it out of the bush and towards the open window. They had sent back a letter to the son telling him nothing except the date on which to expect his fathers death and to keep the window in his room open.

It was reassuring to know that he had done that part. It saved them a lot of trouble.

Guiding the Mosquito pod in an erratic motion to make it look more real, she inched it closer and closer until it was through the window and in the room. She landed it on the frail man's shoulder and sent it into his neck, keeping it there for about five seconds until she could feel the slight weight change in the pod an brought it back, making it do the same crazy dance as before.

Once it was safely tucked away into the pouch she nodded once again at Matsuda and he signalled for them to leave.

They crept back to the wall, undetected once again, and launched themselves over into the cover of the dense forest beyond. They ran for about three miles before they stopped.

Panting, Tenten frowned. They may have completed the hard part of the mission, but the deed was only half done. All they did so far was get a blood sample. They needed death.

Matsuda moved to stand in front of her.

"The first part may have a success, but we still need to complete the mission. Don't relax yet, it isn't over." He said, his voice using the same monotonous tone it had been in the whole day.

"Captain Obvious," she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" he said, his hearing not quite catching her words.

"Nothing," Tenten replied innocently.

Not quite convinced, he shot her an annoyed expression. "Look, just hurry up and kill the man so we can go home."

At this, Tenten's stomach dropped. It was a painful reminder that she'd have to kill someone, and although it may be for his own good, it was still someone's life.

For Matsuda who had killed plenty of times before, this was nothing, but to her it meant a lot.

They say that after you do it once it gets easier, but Tenten didn't want to do it at all.

Not now, and not ever.

She had accepted that killing would naturally come with the lifestyle she'd chosen for herself, and she'd told herself that she'd be strong when the time came to do it, but now, when it was blatantly staring her in the face she wasn't so sure it would be that easy.

A hand clasped on her shoulder. Surprised, Tenten's head shot up, and the view that greeted her was not one she expected.

Matsuda was looking directly at her, and yet his eyes had no hate in them. Instead they were reassuring, just as a true friend would look at the current time. Perhaps the expression on her face of the prolonged silence had given it away, but somehow he realised the turmoil she was experiencing, and the most shocking thing of all was that he cared enough to help out.

"I'm sorry, that probably was not the best thing to say. I forgot that this was your first time ki – on a mission." His voice was smooth and soothing, and he really seemed to mean his apology. "If it helps, I felt the same way on my first mission."

Tenten took a deep breath. She could do this. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out the tiny pod, but as soon as she saw the few drops of blood inside the pod all her resolve disappeared. She couldn't take innocent life. This guy hadn't even done anything to her. She closed her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I…I don't think I can do it…"

"Yes. Yes you can." Matsuda said confidently.

Tenten was confused. Why was he being so nice to her? The reaction she would have expected was him taunting or yelling at her for being weak or being unable to finish the mission, but her he was reassuring her. It was so strange.

"I'll give you some advice," he told her, looking straight into her eyes, "Do what you do best, Tenten. Lie."

"Lie?" she questioned. "To who? How is that going to help me?"

"Lie to yourself, Tenten. Tell yourself that this is an insect, or a bug that you are killing. Don't think about the man, just forget about him. He doesn't exist anymore, you got that?"

Tenten nodded. Taking his advice she told herself that this was just an insect she was going to kill as part of her training. She readied herself, and then before she could wimp out again, she opened the pod and dribbled the blood onto her fingertip.

Pulling down the collar of her shirt, she couldn't help but notice Matsuda squirm a little uncomfortably, but he had nothing to fear The only thing he'd see today was her neck and shoulder.

In one quick motion she swiped her finger across the seal and then made the hand sign.

For a second, all was still, and nothing happened.

Then Tenten felt something akin to an extremely strong wind ram into her, winding her severely, but before she could say anything something strange happened to her mind.

She felt it spilt into two. It didn't hurt, but the feeling was so just so strange that she couldn't even describe it if she had the chance.

She did know one this for sure though.

There were two sides to her now.

On one side, her usual body, her eyes were open, and she could see and feel everything her body did.

Matsuda leaning over her, asking if she was alright. The leaves falling from the trees. The afternoon sun warming her face. The birds chirping in the trees.

But at the same time she could feel a rope, a tie almost, attaching her to another body. She followed it, but something wasn't quite right. She couldn't get past a certain point.

Something was blocking her access in the darkness, and it was stopping her from controlling the body fully.

She knew that she had to continue to make her bloodline work fully, but she didn't understand what was going wrong. It was even harder because she didn't even know where to start looking for potential problems, let alone fixing them.

When she tried to open her eyes on the other side, she found that she couldn't see anything clearly. It was like looking through muddy water.

She closed her eyes on both sides. Suddenly, with no where to focus on in the outside world, her soul got transported into her mind itself.

Ironically, she found herself face to face with what was blocking her from getting full access of the other body.

It was a huge veil set inside her mind, spanning the entire length of it, and most importantly, blocking her from going beyond it.

It was obscenely beautiful, with its long, gauzy drapes of the softest petal-pink fluttering in some nonexistant breeze.

It must have been taken straight out of heaven and planted into her mind, for no mortal creation could look as ethereal as it.

When she looked at it a little closer, what she had originally thought was designs on the pale material, actually turned out to be writing. The words contrasted starkly against the gentle background colour with its vivid, blood red hue.

Each character itself was as big as a house, and they were strung together into long sentences running across the surface of the entire thing.

Sadly, Tenten couldn't read a word of it. It was written in a language long forgotten, although she did manage to find the seal she had on her shoulder appear a few times among the lot.

She didn't have time to appreciate its beauty though, and to her what it said didn't matter. This was what was blocking her from carrying out her mission. What was stopping her from reaching her true potential, and using the powers she was born with.

It had to go.

Tenten pulled out one of her many weapon scrolls, still in her mind. Unravelling it, she used her most effective wide-area move and sent an epic onslaught of deadly weapons directly at the veil.

Just like that it fell.

The folds crumpled inward, and it dropped dramatically to the ground.

Regret filled her soul.

She knew she had just destroyed possibly the most beautiful creation of all, and as she looked at the irrepairable tatters of the torn material, the feeling of killing the only hope of salvation filled her soul.

She had to keep moving, although ignoring that unwanted and unprecidented emotion of despair in her soul was quite the challenge.

Picking up that tie that held her connection in place she procceeded to follow it, and this time she felt nothing blocking in her path. No obstacles in her way.

As she stepped over the line where the veil once was, that feeling of hopelessness disappered immediately. She was now on the other side.

After what felt like a few seconds, she could feel the end of the cord getting closer. Then a step later the switch happened.

Opening her eyes. A different body. Lying in a bed. The feeling of heat and pain, yet in a very distant way, as if it were just a shadow of what it truly was. The ability to function, yet it didn't feel right, almost like wearing a shoe on the wrong foot. It can still be used, but it is uncomfortable.

She knew were she was. Or rather _who_ she was.

Her soul snatching had worked seamlessly, and only she inhabited the empty body of the clan leader, his presence no where to be found.

Of course, since she wasn't him, she could never truly make that body her own, but she could use it to some extent. She was more like the puppeteer than the actor.

She didn't know where his soul went to, but she wished him well, wherever he may be.

She closed her eyes on that side as well.

She found herself in her mind, sitting in a chair. Looking forward, it felt like watching two different shows at the same time, although unlike in real life, she could focus on both with a full amount of attention at once.

It was startling, and a little bit disorientating at first, but she got the hang of balancing the two things at once, and this time when she opened her eyes in her own body, she could still see what was happening on the other end as well as this one is amazing clarity.

"Tenten! Are you alright? Say something without staring at me like a fucking retard," Matsuda yelled at her.

Tenten smiled at him. He actually sounded concerned. Sitting up she realised that she had fallen to the ground when she closed her eyes on this side. She could see how it must have looked like she fainted to him.

The balancing act of looking at two different places at once was getting easier by the second, and by the time she stood up, it felt like she'd seen the world like this all her life. Like it was second nature.

"I'm fine. This was just the first time I'd done this with a human before, and I was extremely disorientating. But it's okay now. In fact it's great!" She said cheerfully.

He looked relieved. "Alright, finish him off now."

Tenten nodded, and closed her eyes again.

This time, when she sat in the chair she didn't just watch. She momentarily switched off her connection to her own body. Focusing all her attention onto the Clan Leader's one, and gave a single command.

'_Heart Attack'._

She then pulled herself out of his body and switched her own one back on. It was like watching a plug being pulled while the Television was still on. On half of her mind's screen a few random coloured lines popped up and then it went black. The remaining half the filled up the entire space once again.

With no other body to choose from, her soul only had one place to go. Just like a sling-shot she was slammed back into her own body.

Barely two minutes passed from the moment she activated the seal to now. Time went different in her head.

Tenten was over the moon. It actually worked and she simply could not believe how amazing the results were.

"Alright, it's done. He's gone. I guess that means our mission's over now, we can go home." She said excitedly.

"Yeah, and don't worry I won't tell Master about your little break down." Matsuda replied.

"Thanks." She said appreciatively. She meant it.

"But you needs an unbelievable amount of work before you become even a decent kunoichi." He said suddenly. Tenten was shocked at just how cold his voice sounded after what had just happened, but she said nothing.

Just like that the fragile moment of them being friends ended, and they went back to hating each other.

Well, not hate exactly, but not friends either, more like something in between. Perhaps unwilling allies?

She didn't know, but what was clear was that he was genuinely concerned about her wellbeing back then. If he was willing to not hate her then she would gladly drop it too, but this day had evoked her curiosity.

She was determined to find out why he despised her before.

They made it back to Konoha in total silence. It was tiring, and they did the three hour trip in one straight go, not stopping once. Tenten was so tired by the time she saw Konoha's walls, and as they made it through their hidden door, all her body wanted to do was drop into something soft and sleep for a long time.

Her mind was buzzing though, and strangely she felt like she had somehow gained the wisdom one gets upon seeing the world and reaching old age. She couldn't explain it.

For example she understood in a way she did not before that she and Matsuda had fallen back into the cycle of hating each other not because they actually did as much as before, but rather because it was all they had ever known around each other and that to break it would be to take a wild, uncomfortable trip into the unknown.

However Tenten could not ignore the aching bones and tired muscles that were paying for a whole day of nearly nonstop tree hoping, and as she went into her apartment and jumped on her bed she decided that she might as well leave her musings for the time being and get that sleep she was telling Neji about earlier that day.

So she did. But in her tired state she did not notice that her mind felt just that tiny bit heavier than usual.

It was probably nothing though.

**A/N:** A few of you sent me inboxes telling me that I had missed Entry 6 in my last chapter. I thank you for your concern, but it was meant to be like that. The pace of the story and the amount of entries she writes wouldn't make sense otherwise, and there will be plenty more number skips later on (just like 7 - 10 in this chapter). Just thought I'd let you know :)

* If you got those hints, I'll give you a virtual sticker. Anyway, Sakine gave me a hard one to incorporate (it was Tobuscus) and I didn't know how to fit it into this particular story apart from being part of a drunken man's ramblings. The net was referring to the Internet and the tube was referring to YouTube, in which Tobuscus is a celebrity.

Finally we're getting to the juicy stuff. Sorry it took so long to get it up, but inspiration comes at strange times, and also my ff account was being a bitch and not lettin me upload.. Anyway, I made it extra long to compensate.

Please review and tell me what you guys think, any critiques, or any recommendations. I squeal like a little school girl everything I get a review and I've read each individual one about five times each. They are my motivation, and I thank you guys so much for them. I love you all for making my day over and over :)


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